


The Reason For Living

by Faded_BlueEyes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Blood and Gore, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Fights, Ghouls, M/M, Minor Character Death, Slow Build, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-17
Updated: 2014-08-17
Packaged: 2018-02-13 15:03:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2154954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faded_BlueEyes/pseuds/Faded_BlueEyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all started with his crush (verging on obsession) on the beautiful girl he saw walking past them every day. But not everything is as it seems; never judge a book by its cover. Through that mistake, Eren now has to deal with his hunger for flesh, an irritable barista everywhere he goes, doves coming after him as well as finding out the truth about matters long forgotten. </p><p>Or, the Tokyo Ghoul/Attack on Titan crossover nobody asked for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Reason For Living

**Author's Note:**

> “...the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time.”  
> ―William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying 

In the spring you see everything coming to life after the winter gloom, then summer everything thrives and grows. Finally, the autumn comes and the trees shed their leaves just to wait for the spring so they can come back to life. The trees are starting to turn into the most beautiful colors of reds and yellows. Piled upon the grass, the brown leaves whirl around in a circle like a small tornado sweeping the beautiful park, the mystifying colours of the sun shine onto the pile of leaves, glistening brightly. 

The days are warm and the nights are cool. Hoody sweatshirts make an appearance, people crave early evening walks and warm apple pie. Even driving with the windows down remains a norm. 

But school completely ruins the beautiful illusion of autumn. 

“I really hope we get to read it again. I read it over the summer and trust me, Eren, it's amazing! The story completely sucks you in and you feel like-,” Armin paused in his speech, his eyes narrowing as he turned to look at his best friend. Realising Eren wasn't paying attention, he deliberately sighed dramatically. 

The brunet's eyes then cast towards him. Eren blinked once and gave Armin a quick look over. “Sorry.” He murmured, his hand coming up to scratch the back of his neck awkwardly as he realised Armin caught him again. “You were saying?” Although his teal-green orbs remained on Armin, there was a distant look in them which told Armin he was listening in one ear, and letting it all out the other. 

“It doesn't matter.” Armin dismissed with a shrug. “You don't like Literature, anyway.” They turned a corner and Armin paused, noticing something in the corner of his eye. “Let's go in here. My friend told me they have great coffee.” 

At the statement, Eren turned to look at him and sneered, “Your friend?” He repeated. “Would that, possibly, be Jean Kirstein?” He spat, hatred for the older student clearly visible. It wasn't hate, perhaps, but he disliked Jean and the arrogant way he carried himself with. 

The smaller boy gave Eren a pointed look before opening the door to the coffee shop, signalling their arrival with a quiet 'ding!'. Eren noticed the shop's name read 'Anteiku.' “Yes.” Armin replied simply. “Jean's a nice guy, Eren. He helps me out with some things. After all, he's older so he's already been through all of this.” 

Eren rolled his eyes at the conversation turning to Jean. They instead took a seat at a table by the window and Eren asked Armin which drink he would like. Armin gave him his order with a grateful smile and a 'thank you.' 

Walking over to the counter, he smiled at the dark-haired boy taking his order. The boy tried to make comfortable, light-hearted conversation about the weather outside and how he was craving a good apple pie just by looking at all the coffee around them, but Eren smiled politely and simply awaited his drinks. He was too busy looking out for her. 

“Two large pumpkin lattes.” Sounded his order in a different voice, and Eren stepped up to collect their drinks. The barista who handed him the drinks wasn't the happy, freckled boy he spoke to before. In fact, this barista seemed to be the exact opposite. 

With short, black hair styled in an undercut, the barista gave him an impatient look; his eyes were a striking grey, verging on light blue, the very blue which Eren would describe as a sea after a storm, but that was perhaps him listening too much of Armin going on about poetry. The slight furrow beneath his eyes was at odds with his otherwise youthful appearance.

“Thanks.” He murmured, picking up the drinks as the barista gave him a quick look over, his eyes pausing at Eren's sweatshirt. 

“Nice hoodie.” The barista murmured before turning away and returning to making drinks again. 

Eren didn't have the time to reply to the compliment. He did, however, look down to make sure what he was wearing; it was a sweatshirt with a picture and title of an album of his favourite band. He nodded once to himself before returning to the table with their drinks. 

Armin currently had his book open, the sleeve of his wooly jumper falling too far so that he had to correct it every minute or two. When his drink was put in front of him, he smiled at Eren and thanked him again. Eren shrugged simply in reply, his hands wrapping around his own hot drink. 

He continued looking out of the window, realising that he and Armin were having another one of those quiet times where neither talked. There was music silently playing from the radio in the corner and he tapped his foot along to the beat. 

When the music was replaced with a silent radio report, he couldn't help but listen. “Late last night, several unidentified bodies were discovered in building Maria, a commercial facility in Tokyo's 20th Ward. What is believed to be saliva belonging to ghouls was retrieved from the bodies, and the incident is being investigated as a ghoul crime.”

His teeth gritted in anger, fists clenching at the sudden intrusion on the past. He had told himself, no, vowed to himself, that he would become an Anti-Ghoul Investigator after what happened to his mother. Ghouls had torn his own family apart, so it was only fair that he got his revenge. One more year of school and he would be free to get it. 

The report finished and the radio went into another slow song, causing Eren to huff and look away to the outside again, trying to calm the nerves the simple thoughts brought on. 

That was when he spotted her. 

She was currently walking down the street, her skirt blowing with the wind slightly and her hair getting into her face, to which she brought her small hand up and righted it with a gentle smile. This brought Eren's attention straight to her chin length light brown hair which looked so soft he felt like he wanted to run his fingers through it. 

She held a book against her chest and he watched his wide eyes as she turned the corner and her hand grabbed the handle to the coffee shop they were currently sitting in. If he knew she went here often, he would have come in a long time ago. 

She ordered her drink at the counter, the shorter, grey-eyed barista taking the order with a roll of his eyes. Eren felt offended that he would act that way to the beautiful girl. Then, she turned and looked over the tables, her large amber eyes scanning over the surrounding carefully. Her eyes momentarily paused on Eren and he felt a blush creeping up his neck just from the brief glance. 

She smiled lightly and looked away, taking a seat two tables away from them. “Why don't you just ask her out?” He turned sharply towards Armin, his face the exact replica of a deer caught in the headlights. 

“Armin!” He hissed at the blond, making sure to keep his voice quiet. 

“You've been staring at her for the past few weeks.” Armin pointed out cleverly. “What's the problem?” 

“She's gorgeous!” Eren spluttered to which Armin gave him a small smile. 

“Opposed to what you think, Eren, you're not too bad yourself.” Armin's eyes glanced towards the girl for a second. “Here,” He slid his book over to Eren, the title 'As I Lay Dying' staring at him accusingly. “She's reading the same book.” There was a glint of entertainment in his eyes as Eren looked down at the book and realised he hardly paid attention to what it was about. 

But his legs seemed to have a mind of their own. He stood up and headed over to the table, stopping right before the girl. She looked up at him with a knowing look, a smile playing on her kissable lips. 

He fidgeted for a while before he brought up the book, making sure the cover was visible. He struggled to remember every detail h ever heard about it before he spoke, “As I Lay Dying...my biggest regret was not telling you how beautiful you are.” 

~~*~~*~~

He cut into his steak, his eyes remained glued to the girl sitting in front of him, sipping on her drink before she spoke to him, “Did you know that William Faulkner wrote his novel from midnight until four in the morning and did not change a word of it?” She supplied an interesting fact. 

Eren grinned in return, making sure to save that fact in his head for future conversations. “Of course I did.” He replied with a smile, his eyes roaming her face as she smiled at him. “What kind of a fan would I be if I didn't?” A fake one, was one correct answer. 

_“I still don't believe it.” Armin's voice came blankly through the phone line._

_“Me neither!” Eren exclaimed into the phone, laughing shortly after. “The pick up line was probably the lamest thing I've used in my life, but it worked! She smiled and told me I was cute and then we started talking.” He groaned slightly as he remembered the little facts. “Of course, she's really into the book and I hardly remember a detail about it.”_

_“Serves you right. Maybe you should pay attention when I speak.” Armin pointed out to which Eren grinned._

_“Thanks for the help, Armin.” He thanked his friend, looking down at all the notes his friend had dictated about the book._

_“It's fine.” Armin dismissed. “So where are you going?”_

_“We're gonna get dinner and then go for a nice, romantic walk.” Eren grinned smugly at the evening he had planned. Armin seemed to understand the intentions behind a romantic walk as well._

_“Right.” He spoke. “Well, stay safe. You know that lately ghouls have-” He tried to warn, but Eren cut him off._

_“I'll be fine, Armin.” He promised._

“You don't eat much, do you, Hitch?” He spoke to the girl as he noticed her plate still almost full. 

“Oh,” Hitch seemed to realise it too and flushed slightly. “I'm on a diet.” She admitted before frowning slightly. “Excuse me. I need to use the rest room.” She straightened and got out of the seat, leaving Eren behind to stare at her uneaten food.

~~*~~*~~

“Thank you for tonight.” Hitch whispered, those large, amber orbs staring right at Eren in the quiet tranquility of the park they stood amidst. 

“No, thank you.” Eren cut her off immediately, a grin slipping onto his lips. His eyes, however, remained on her lips, the very same lips which he had admired for weeks now. Watching Hitch pause with a small smile on her face, he frowned. “What's wrong?”

“It's just,” She started with a sigh,”I live near where the recent ghoul incidents have been happening...” She trailed off and looked away from him, where he spotted the tears gathering in her eyes. She laughed lightly and wiped at her eyes, “Sorry, I'm awfully bad at handling this.” 

“It's fine.” He immediately jumped in, his fists clenching at the mention of ghouls. “I'll walk you back.” She gave him an amazing smile in return and nodded once, motioning to the path they had to take with a quiet 'thank you.'

He made small talk as they continued walking through the night. He felt good with Hitch around. She made him smile, with her little smiles and giggles. 

She motioned to the turn they had to take and Eren nodded, spotting a familiar figure in the corner of his eye. He paused for a second, his gaze meeting one of the baristas he had seen earlier at the coffee shop. The barista walked along with another person, a petite girl with light ginger hair and bright amber eyes. Eren did nothing and simply followed after Hitch, ignoring the look the barista gave him. 

The barista paused for a second, his eyes averting to the darkness that now indulged the teal eyed boy and Hitch. “Levi?” The ginger-haired girl spoke from in front of him. “Is everything alright?” 

He gave one more look into the darkness before turning to her with a slightly shrug. “Perfectly fine.” 

“Well, that's me.” Hitch spoke up as they stopped in front of a building. 

Eren stopped not far from her. His goal was to kiss her by the end of the night. “I'd like to see you again.” He breathed. 

Hitch smiled at him softly and took a step forward, her body almost pressed up against his. “You want to know something, Eren?” She whispered, her hot breath hitting his ear which made him shiver. She took the shiver as his answer. “I noticed you. I noticed the way you always looked at me,” She paused and giggled. “And I, too, am interested in you.” 

“You are?” He managed to stutter. 

She giggled again and nodded, her face not far from his neck so that he felt the hot breaths send shivers up his spine. “Just,” She started with a giggle. “Not in the way you were hoping for.” 

He didn't have time to evaluate her words. Her hand fisted his jumper and then there was a sharp pain at his neck. He froze in pain, his shoulders tensing as he felt teeth pierce the skin on his neck, deeper and deeper and deeper. 

When he regained his control, he had shoved himself away from Hitch, stumbling back, his back hitting the concrete as he tried to soften his landing by his hands. His wide eyed glanced upon Hitch, giggling softly to herself while she stood there in the faint light coming off a nearby lamp. 

Her shadow grew bigger as tentacle-like shapes sprouted from her back, bending and snapping in the air as if they had a mind of their own. She giggled again,”There is one thing I like more than books.” She told him, her voice with a comedic note to it. She looked up then, and he saw the black spread over her large, amber eyes until there was no colour left. The black replaced the ember and red appeared along the way, red spots appearing where previously her pupils had been. 

She licked her bottom lip, her tongue trailing over the blood staining her face. She giggled again, “It's pulling out all of the organs out of somebody who isn't trying to run away from me.” She finished, the tentacles behind her pausing before they turned sharper, now ready to attack like giant claws. 

Eren wished his legs had worked sooner. 

Out of all the people in the city, he had stumbled upon a ghoul: something he vowed to kill. But he was nowhere near ready, and right now, his first instinct was to run. So he did. 

He stumbled to his feet and tried to make a run for it. He made it a few steps before something grabbed his leg and he screamed as the tentacle pulled him back, bringing him up and dangling him in the air right in front of her blood-stained face. “I caught you.” She whispered to him with a giggle before the tentacle swung together with Eren's body and slammed him against the nearby wall. 

He felt his lungs collapse, all the air shoved out of them as he struggled to breath, his limp body sliding down the wall. 

She pounced towards him, giggling as always, the tentacles wrapping around his body and squeezing, squeezing, squeezing until he felt all air leave him. He felt one of those claws pierce his skin and he cried out silently as the blood oozed out from the fresh wound. 

Hitch pulled back slightly and frowned. “Did you die?” She spoke, and when he didn't have the strength to say anything, she continued. “Too bad. I really did like you.” She commented, those red eyes still set on him. 

She dropped him to the ground again and his back hit the wall. He could do nothing but stare up at her, unable to move his broken and bruised body. He leaned his head against the wall and tried to breathe but failed. His sight was also starting to fade out slowly. 

And yet, he saw it but she didn't. 

Above them, something snapped and Hitch was too busy eyeing over each part of his body to hear it. Another wire snapped quickly, followed by another and another but by the time Hitch heard the suspicious sound and looked up, it was too late. 

The steel bars fell right on top of Hitch, and Eren didn't have any more strength in him to cry out at the ones that hit him. He then gave into the darkness surrounding him with a final thought: this was better than being eaten by a ghoul. 

_“His abdominal organs are shattered!”_

_“We'll begin operating immediately!”_

_“Prepare for organ transplant.”_

_“Without consent?!”_

_“I will take full responsibility! Transfer her organs into him!”_

**Author's Note:**

> So, yeah. This has been bugging me for some time now and I had to write it down.  
> Let me know what you think! Thanks.
> 
>  
> 
> [Tumblr](http://surveycorpscastiel.tumblr.com/)


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